Our History

Snapshot of the past

An undated photograph of sheep grazing in a paddock in the middle of Drouin. The sheep are grazing on land on the corner of Young St and Hope St, approximately where McDonalds is now. The brick and timber buildings at the top of the hill are in...

The Gazette

07 Sep 2025

Our History

Cemetery records presented to Trust

In celebration of family history month, West Gippsland Genealogical Society recently presented Drouin Cemetery Trust with five books detailing records and research of the cemetery. The society transcribed the cemetery headstones starting in March...

The Gazette

06 Sep 2025

Our History

New leader for historical society

Warragul and District Historical Society elected Wayne Hardie as president at its recent annual general meeting. The meeting was well attended with more than 30 members and guest Baw Baw Shire Cr Suzanne Allen. In her final report, outgoing president...

The Gazette

20 Aug 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A photograph of the dedication ceremony for the Longwarry war memorial in 1919. The first public meeting to discuss the welcoming home of returning soldiers to the Longwarry district was held in 1917, according to local newspaper reports. It followed...

The Gazette

02 Aug 2025

Our History

The Sale canal

Sale was at first called Flooding Creek, an apt description as much as a name. From the time when Archibald McIntosh built the first ‘house’ in Sale, the Bridge Inn, Sale developed as the de facto capital of Gippsland. Gippsland’s only port at the...

The Gazette

31 Jul 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A photograph capturing a group of Warragul Apex Club volunteers in action in Burke St Park, Warragul in 1967. The photograph, taken in December, captured the Warragul Apexians digging foundations for an undercover barbecue area. This commenced the...

Carolyn Turner

15 Jul 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A photograph of Gazette linotype operator Mr W. Boyak during a student tour of the Gazette building in 1967. Warragul North Primary School students are captured touring the Gazette office in Queen St, Warragul to see all different sections...

The Gazette

13 Jul 2025

Our History

Changing needs of the Gippsland Track

The Gippsland Track has grown and matured, shifting and changing to meet changing needs. National Route 1 was identified and listed officially in 1955. In 2004 VicRoads listed the Princes Highway East as Arterial Road 6510. It has several names even...

The Gazette

08 Jul 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A photograph of busy Williams St in Warragul from November 1967. Taken from the Regent Theatre building, the photograph was taken to illustrate the crowded thoroughfare often referred to as Williams Lane. However, it hasn’t been officially Williams...

The Gazette

01 Jul 2025

Our History

Tracks winding through Gippsland

The Old Sale Road, as the Gippsland Track became known, a name which seems to have been used from about 1878 when the railway was coming through Gippsland, was a new route created to follow the line, and the railway lines were carefully surveyed to...

The Gazette

01 Jul 2025

Our History

Travelling the Gippsland track

Gippsland was first entered by white people down the Tambo Valley and on to the Gippsland Lakes. From 1835 there were squatters in the Omeo district, and they gradually extended their use of the land down that valley. We’ve talked about that...

The Gazette

27 Jun 2025

Our History

The hole beside our road

We have been really lucky this year, in Quamby Rd. We have had two official holes down at the other end, where there is bitumen. The hole men seem to prefer places where there is that black bit in the middle of the road. Let me say at the outset that...

The Gazette

18 Jun 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A photograph of the Longwarry Scout Hall in Collett St c1969. The town once had a prolific scout pack, producing no less than five Queen Scouts. However, it is the story of the community banding together to build this scout hall which stands...

The Gazette

17 Jun 2025

Our History

Old dogs and good mates

It is the night of January 15. More correctly, it is 30 minutes into January 16, and I am sitting on the roofed deck at the back of my house listening to the grumbling thunder, enjoying the lightning and enjoying even more the sound of the occasion...

The Gazette

10 Jun 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A sketch by early Drouin South settler Franklin Jackson of his property “Ferntree” on Weebar Rd, dated 1876. Franklin Jackson arrived at Drouin South in 1874, leaving a selection at Nar Nar Goon. An extract from “Buln Buln” by Graeme Butler tells of...

The Gazette

10 Jun 2025

Our History

Noojee rail - an engineering classic

The railway from Neerim South to Noojee swoops and soars through some of Victoria’s most attractive scenery. Yes, I know that should be in the past tense, but I’m ever the optimist. Unfortunately, burned-out trestle bridges no longer safely spanning...

The Gazette

03 Jun 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A photograph capturing Main St in Drouin, including the brick building of Henry Pease and Sons on the corner of Hope St, c1917. Henry Pease purchased the business from J. G. Hearn in 1906 and leased part of the premises from him. Mr A. Wehsek, who...

The Gazette

03 Jun 2025

Our History

O’Marney, The Pied Piper of Hallora

The first settlers of the Hallora area were typical of the many families in Victoria which joined the “Land Rush” of the 1870s. From Clunes there were the Hickmans, the Aikmans and the Brocks. The Simpsons and the Hallyburton brothers came from...

The Gazette

27 May 2025

Our History

Snapshot of the past

A photograph of Mounted Constable James Wellwood of Drouin c1900. James Wellwood was born in Fitzroy in 1864 and joined the Victoria Police force on March 8, 1887. Constable Wellwood worked in Fitzroy for three years before being transferred to Ben...

The Gazette

27 May 2025